Over the last six seasons, the highest the Blue Jackets have ranked in power-play conversion percentage is 24th in the NHL. That was two years ago, where they converted at an 18.6% rate in the 2020-21 season.
Their record from that season was 37-38-7; the only time they have been anywhere close to a .500 win percentage during this rebuild. At a first glance, it seems that there is a direct correlation between power-play success and team success.
Digging deeper, the last time the Jackets finished higher than 24th in the NHL was the 2016-17 season, where they landed 12th in the NHL, converting at 19.9%. The team finished with a franchise record 108 points that season.
Indeed, a strong power-play certainly seems to lead to more wins. Just how many more wins though? Would it make a big difference this season? I definitely think so. Let's dive into the numbers.
Since that 2016-17 outlier, the Jacket power-play has ranked as follows in each season: 25th (17.2%), 28th (15.4%), 27th (16.4%), 27th (15.4%), 24th (18.6%), and 26th (18.3%).
There is certainly a lot of room for improvement here, which is supposedly part of the reason the team went out and recruited Mark Recchi as an assistant coach. How has the unit responded?